Team 16
by LittleRaven92
Summary: Two girls are attacked in the modern world and transported to Konoha. Once there, they learn of ninja and begin their own destiny as kunoichi. Read as they battle evil nin, demons, and their own feelings.
1. Chapter 1

**­DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Naruto and I never did and never will. I do however own the characters of Brenna/Koe, Sarah/Ame, and Koinu. Hope you enjoy!

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On a calm summer day the wind blew softly through a wooded forest. The serenity was broken only by the thunder of horses hooves as two girls in their teens raced side by side on their beautiful horses. The shorter of the two smiled joyously into the wind as her long black braid whipped violently across her face and shoulders. Grinning wildly she nudged her great chestnut gelding in the flanks urging him to go faster as the milky white mare passed them on the right side. The rider of said mare flashed a grin over her shoulder and laughed loudly while her shoulder length brown hair danced crazily.

The wind blew hard against the two girls as they continued to race forward the rhythm of hoof beats and breathing blended into one. Soon the girls could hear the soft gurgles of a river and they slowed their horses to a trot and continued along the trail. The trees began to thin out and when they approached the river's edge they dismounted and allowed their mounts a drink of the cool water. After a few peaceful moments the shorter girl turned to her companion.

"Sarah, do you think the horses are ready to go back now? I'm sure you're mom is expecting us by now." Just as she spoke a small droplet of moisture hit the girl on the nose causing her to cross her eyes. Sarah giggled at her friend's face before glancing upwards.

"You're right Brenna. Besides, cold rain won't go well with overheated horses. Let's try to get back before the worst of the rain starts." The two girls swiftly mounted their steeds and whirled them around traveling at a fast gallop down the trail they had come from. Two pairs of glowing eyes watched their departure. Just then the rain hit sending sheets of icy rain down upon the earth.

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"Brenna!" Sarah called loudly over the pounding rain, "We can't run the horses in this damn rain! They'll get sick!" Sarah looked around trying to find a large tree to stand under to keep dry. Both the girls and horses shivered slightly as the rain began to chill them. The horses seemed anxious to continue onwards, the girls assumed they simply wanted out of the rain.

"Let's keep going Sarah!" Brenna shouted back "I think we only have to cross one more creek! Who knows when this storm will let up! If we stop we could be here for an hour!" Sarah nodded before urging her mare forwards slowly. Brenna swiped her face with her forearm desperately trying to see the trail in front of her. She couldn't see two feet in front of her face! Just as she was about to nudge the gelding forward a scream rang out ahead of her. Before Brenna could call out to her friend a large blur hit her squarely in the chest sending her flying backwards. She choked on her own scream of shock and terror as her head connected solidly into a tree trunk. For moment she swore the forest around her melted and swirled into a different place. Throbbing pain coursed through her body causing her to see hot white light. She moaned softly before calling out weakly.

"S…Sarah?" Brenna gripped the bark of the tree and tried to pull herself up, but the bark crumbled under her weight and she fell to the ground. She lay on her stomach in daze not noticing her friend lying on the ground just a few feet away. Sarah curled her hands into fists and raised her head painfully. Looking through the slackening rain she saw Brenna and forced herself to crawl towards her.

"B…Brenna…are you…alright?" She asked through gasped breaths.

"N…no not…really..." Brenna gave a grunt of pain as she forced her body into a sitting position propped against a tree. She opened her eyes a crack to see her friend struggling towards her. When her eyes focused her whole body stiffened with fright.

Walking at a slow unhurried pace was the largest coyote she'd ever seen on Sarah's property…no…not a coyote it was far too bulky…a wolf? No…it couldn't be. Wolves weren't native to this area. As she watched on in horror the wolf-like creature seemed to grin at her as its blood red eyes flashed in anticipation.

Sarah saw the fear in Brenna's eyes and she knew that someone or something was behind her. She could hear heavy panting behind her, warm breath tickled her neck, and a low growl reverberated behind her. Sarah began to tremble as she glanced into a large puddle of rain. The creature standing behind her could not be from this world. Its fur was black and gray patterned like that of a wolf. Its teeth were razor sharp and glinted in the sun that just began to peek out from behind the clouds. Its eyes were blood red and shone with bloodlust.

Sarah began to panic and her breathing became erratic. She snapped her head back towards Brenna only to see yet another creature slinking its way towards her. It looked almost like one of the gray foxes common to the area, but it was unusual. Foxes were skittish, small, and rarely seen. This fox figure was huge, almost the size of the wolf. Its fur was unkempt and scruffy and its eyes shone the same bloodthirsty red.

_'Trapped…caught…young…prey…dead…delicious…mine…starved…" _The words rang through the young girls mind almost as if they had been placed there by these terrible creatures. Suddenly both the animals pounced on the frightened girls.

Brenna's gaze was locked with that of the fox that held her pinned to the ground. Its black lips pulled up in an evil grin to reveal its jagged needle-like teeth. Raucous laughter seemed to echo in her head and she new that it was coming from this terrible monster. It was somehow sending its thoughts through her mind. She shook her head back and forth and ground her teeth together trying to force the laughter from her mind. She writhed beneath the animal and wriggled her right arm free.

Her hand shot forward as she tried to push the fox away but as her hand neared the animals head it quickly caught her small wrist and forearm in its mouth and applied bone-crushing pressure. Brenna shrieked in pain as blood oozed down her arm. Her body collapsed under the fox's crushing weight becoming limp and lifeless as she lost consciousness.

"Brenna!" Sarah screamed to her friend as the wolf-creature pressed all of its weight into her shoulder blades. As she fell her head cracked audibly against a large rock stunning her silent. The two animals grinned madly at their freshly caught meals and licked their jowls. The wolf nudged Sarah with its paw to flip her over to give him access to her soft belly. The rolling motion pulled Sarah from her daze and she began to scream and flail. The wolf gave an angry snarl and pressed its claws into her chest leaving deep punctures. As the white hot pain tore through her chest Sarah let out an even louder scream of pure agony.

Sarah's shrill screams had startled the fox as well as awoken Brenna. Brenna's eyes shot open and upon seeing the fox's bloody jaws her body seemed to act on its own as she too began to struggle with her attacker. Again her right hand shot towards her attacker. She vaguely noticed that the under the blood of her arm the various puncture wounds had healed into white scars and they seemed to be emanating an eerie green glow. Her open palm met with the fox's chest; blood and fur splattered across her face. The fox let out a pained yelp and jumped away from her giving one final snap of its jaws before disappearing into the foliage.

Brenna stared at her shaking hands in awe and horror. Blood and fur was trapped beneath her fingernails which had sharpened and elongated into dainty claws… '_What the hell?' _she thought to herself as she began to examine her scarred wrist more carefully. Where had the wounds gone? Suddenly she noticed that the silver bracelet she wore which normally fit snugly around her wrist seemed to have grown twice as large and threatened to slip off her hand. Turning sharply she noticed Sarah still struggling with the large wolf.

"Sarah!" Brenna screamed in a panicky voice as she lifted herself off the ground. The wolf seemed shock that the other girl was up and upon noticing that its partner had vanished gave an angry snarl. Before it could do anything however the girl it had pinned reached up and gave a hard punch to its muzzle. The wolf howled in pain as the fist connected, a resounding crunch reaching everyone's ears. The wolf shook its head in more pain before rushing speedily into the surrounding forest.

Sarah panted breathlessly as she struggled to stand. She stopped dead in her tracks as she heard Brenna gasp in shock. Afraid the creatures had returned she glanced around frightened, but when her gaze landed on her friend her own jaw went slack.

"What in the…" Sarah trailed off as she felt her pants sliding slowly down her hips. She snatched them just before they fell her eyes widening quickly as she noticed how huge her pants were. "Brenna…our clothes…our bodies…WHAT HAPPENED?!"

Brenna didn't reply because she didn't know what to say. Her bottom lip trembled uncontrollably and her legs shook violently. Her shirt hung baggily to her knees and she too had to grab at her belt loops occasionally to hold her pants on. She leaned against a tree for support as she began to wring her hands together nervously. She gasped suddenly noticing that her ring wasn't on her finger. She fell to her knees and began to search the ground for a glimmer of silver. It was then that she noticed they were no longer on the trail…in fact…this couldn't even be the same forest. They had been in a pine forest and these trees around them were certainly not pine trees. She faintly remembered her thoughts about the trees melting and changing…

"S…Sarah? Where are we?"

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The two girls walked slowly through the strange forest. Sarah was in the lead seemingly lost in deep thought. Brenna seemed to still be in shock as she walked along simply staring at the ground. She stumbled over her pants cursing lowly as she felt her feet move clumsily inside her now huge shoes. Frowning she sat on the ground and kicked off the oversized tennis shoes. She quickly rolled up her pants legs and ran barefoot to catch up to Sarah leaving the shoes. What good were they to her now anyways? Her braid had come loose in the struggle and her long hair had curled into bouncy waves and she was constantly swiping the black curls from her eyes. Her shocked state sent her brain into overdrive and her eyes darted around noticing every thing. Suddenly her eyes focused on one of the trees. They widened into huge circles as she pointed at the tree.

"Sarah! There's a guy in that tree!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Sarah asked confusedly as she looked at said tree only to have a flying object whiz right by her head. As the next object came flying she reached up and grabbed it in midair only inches away from her face. Surprised at her own reaction Sarah dropped the knifelike weapon to the ground and backed away from it.

"What the hell Sarah? Someone's attacking it and you drop the only weapon we have?! I mea…Sarah…" Hearing Brenna trail off Sarah turned around to be faced with a young boy about twelve or thirteen. He was taller than Sarah making him much taller than Brenna. He wore strange black sandals and his legs were wrapped to the knees in bandages. Grey shorts reached his knees and a pouch rested on his right hip. A navy blue vest-like jacket covered his chest and his lower face was hidden by a black mask. A piece of cloth with metal on it was tied around his upper right arm. By far the boy's most shocking features were his shaggy red and black hair and his fiery red eyes.

Sarah tried to take a step back and prepare to run but her pants leg was caught beneath her large shoe and she fell backwards on top of Brenna sending them both to the ground and to the mercy of this stranger. The girls looked up at the boy both shaking in fear. The boy only stared down at them with a stoic expression his thoughts never showing on his face.

_'So…' He thought blandly staring at the strange energy surrounding Brenna's scarred wrist and Sarah's scarred chest 'Calon and Tsurae seem to have picked two more victims. I wonder how these two girls managed to escape. Those mangy demons must have been losing their touch. Or perhaps these girls are like me…strong enough to escape you…strong enough to steal your own energy. Pathetic demons…"_

"You two, stand up quickly!" The boy snapped harshly "There is much to do and little time to do it."

"What are you talking about? Who are you and why did you attack us? What do you want with us?" Sarah was immediately ruffled by the boy's rude manner and was quick to snap at him. Brenna quickly jabbed her friend in the ribcage attempting to silence her before she said anything to really anger the boy. Sarah's temper had gotten the better of her, but Brenna had remained levelheaded she knew that this boy could kill. His manner and accuracy with his weapons told her that. His strange dress only served to reinforce her conclusion. He was some kind of warrior.

"Heh heh heh, your scared aren't you?" The boy laughed humorlessly. "Well you should be. Few survive the attacks of demons."

"Demons…?" Brenna whispered lowly in an unbelieving tone.

"How do you know about those things?" Sarah asked sharply.

"Simple. I survived a demon attack just like you. Follow me and I'll tell you everything."

Sarah seemed to hardly hesitate before beginning to follow the boy. Brenna grabbed onto her arm hard causing the taller girl to hiss in pain. Brenna looked at Sarah with distrust in her eyes. It was obvious that she did not want to follow the boy. Sarah only grabbed her hand and squeezed it reassuringly before pulling Brenna along behind her. Sarah wasn't stupid. She knew she couldn't trust the boy so easily, but she also knew that if they didn't follow this boy that they would be stuck here alone. She knew they would die if that happened. They would either starve to death or be killed by one of the creatures in the forest. They had no choice really.

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The three of them had been walking for several minutes in uneasy silence when they reached a clearing the boy finally turned around to look at them again. He observed them silently for a moment.

"Your clothes are far too big for you now. I have some extra ones in my bags. They may not fit you perfectly but they will do for now." As the girls looked around they noticed three bags propped against trees he went over to two of them and pulled an outfit from each before bestowing one set to each girl.

"What is your name?" Sarah asked slowly as she accepted her stack of clothing.

"Koinu…at least that's my name here…where I came from my name was Darien…Speaking of names what are yours?"

"Oh um I'm Sarah and this is Brenna." Sarah replied a bit confused by what he meant by his name here.

"Nice names, but you'll have to get used to new ones."

"What do you mean 'new names'?" Sarah asked now thoroughly confused.

"Calon the fox demon has the ability to create dimensional portals. He makes portals to other worlds filled with weak inhabitants so that he and his companion Tsurae can feed on them. I don't know what dimension you come from exactly, but I can tell you that you are now in dimension full of ninja. You're in the Village Hidden in the Leaves or Konohagakure right now. Sarah and Brenna aren't exactly typical names here. They would draw attention to you. Now go behind those bushes and change I'll explain more when you're done."

Brenna and Sarah looked at each other with grave faces. Neither knew how to respond to this information. They each picked a perspective bush and changed swiftly. When they were finished they looked at one another examining the strange new attire.

Sarah was dressed in a black shirt that was sleeveless and revealed her stomach coupled with a black miniskirt. Both the skirt and top featured purplish red stripes. Mesh covered her arms and legs and she now adorned a pair of the black sandals Koinu was wearing.

Brenna's outfit was a sleeveless dark gray dress that fell all the way to her ankles with silvery clouds gracing the bottom. The high collar was held together with a button and the buttons continued down to her waist where a burgundy sash was tied. From her waist down the dress was open revealing black shorts and the same black sandals. She held some burgundy arm warmers in her hands that had come with the outfit since her arms were still covered in blood. The outfits weren't their favorite styles or colors but they were comfortable and would do for now.

Silently the two returned from the clearing. Sarah stood staring at the boy who was making a fire while Brenna sat Indian style on the ground pressing her fingertips together and resting her chin on her thumbs. Brenna's thoughts were racing over all of the new information. The farfetched story the boy had told, demons, ninjas, Konohakagaka-whatever… Brenna then glanced up at Sarah who had turned her gaze towards her. Brenna arched her eyebrow and met her gaze.

"…What?" Brenna questioned slowly. She was caught off guard when Sarah burst into laughter. Annoyed at her friends lack of seriousness Brenna stood swiftly looking up at her now much taller friend with a sour expression.

"I'm sorry Brenna I just thought you had forgotten how to talk." Sarah giggled causing Brenna to tilt her head and look at her strangely. "As soon as this guy attacked us you clammed up."

Brenna sighed before scooping up her old shirt. She rubbed it fiercly across her face and arms getting the dried blood of the fox and herself off along with the remainder of her makeup. After all she didn't need it anymore she was what eleven or twelve again? She'd have to ask that guy about the whole shrinking business. She then slid the arm warmers on taking an extra moment to trace the scars on her wrist with her finger before covering them. Feeling someone's gaze on her Brenna turned towards Sarah only to find her fiddling with her own skirt trying to lower it for modesty's sake. Frowning she turned her head to the boy with two-toned hair only to find his gaze already on her.

"So…do you always go around with women's clothing" Brenna questioned harshly.

"Oh," The boy began the outline of a smile showing beneath his mask. "So you can talk."

"Well are you going to answer my question or not?" Brenna rolled her eyes and walked over to Sarah noticing again just how short she really was. Brenna wasn't a rude girl in fact she was normally one of the sweetest girls you could meet, but she didn't trust this guy. She was nervous and scared which caused her to lash out. Sarah suddenly burst out laughing again she was so used to Brenna's true bubbly personality that she found this serious version truly hilarious. Brenna only sent a glare at her friend which only made her laugh harder.

"So you're the unpredictable one aren't you Sarah?" Koinu asked with a smile.

"Why yes I am Koinu. What are you?" Sarah replied slyly as she walked over to him and ran her hand down his chest. Koinu blushed the same crimson color as his hair causing Sarah's laughter to return ten fold as she backed away to stand beside Brenna. Brenna covered her face with her hand and shook her head in embarrassment of her friend's antics. She just had to mess with the guy…didn't she?

"Well…uh…names right! Sarah your new name is Ame…here it means rain so…um…unpredictable." Koinu seemed to regain his composure a bit before speaking again. "Brenna your name is now Koe. It means voice…considering you've hardly spoken you need one! Now learn them, remember them, and use them. Is very important that no one knows about your past. No one needs to know about your situation." _'The last thing you need is someone following you to experiment with your powers or worse kill you'_ He thought the last tidbit to himself.

"Koinu," Koe spoke up again "you still didn't answer my question about why you carried around women's clothing."

"Well Koe," Koinu began as a deep sadness took over his tone. "My teammates brought those bags with some of their extra clothes into the Forest of Death with them for the Chuunin exams."

"Chuunin exams?" Koe questioned confused.

"Teammates?" Ame murmured as she glanced around looking for said teammates.

"We're in the Forest of Death right now. My teammates and I were entered in the Chuunin exam which is a test that genin, the lowest rank of ninja, take in order to become chuunin, the next rank. Don't bother looking around though Ame…" Koinu continued darkly, "my teammates died on the first day in this god forsaken forest a rouge ninja from the sound village attacked us from behind to take our scroll. They never had a chance. He murdered them. I had a proctor come and remove their bodies but I chose to stay. I wanted to find the bastard and kill him myself for what he did. Unfortunately, I came across his body earlier today. I guess what goes around comes around." Koinu finished bitterly.

Guilt seemed to resonate from Koe's body as she sighed and fidgeted nervously. A wave of empathy washed through her body as tears formed in her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. _'Why do I feel so bad for this boy? What exactly happened to his teammates? Did they suffer? Was he forced to watch?_

"I'm sorry…" Koe whispered softly unsure if he could even hear her. She suddenly felt the urge to rip the clothes from her body. The clothes that belonged to a dead girl. A hand pressed down on her shoulder as she looked up into Koinu's sincere face.

"Don't be." He began slowly "You didn't kill them and you needed to know" Koe's lip trembled as she bowed her head her curly black locks hiding her face. She could feel the kindness coming from the boy, his gentle aura, a comforting soul…in that instant she trusted him. He felt like a….

"…brother." The word spilled from Koe's lips as she began to sob. She wrapped her arms around the boys waist and began to bawl like a baby. Instinctively Koinu wrapped his own arms around the small shaking girl. He suddenly noticed how small the girl really was four foot and a half at the most. The top of her head was at his chest. She had completely broken down in front of him after hiding her emotions for nearly half of the day. She was so fragile…how had she been able to fight off a demon.

"Brother…" Koinu tried the word on his tongue. He looked down at the girl with a protective gleam in his eye. He wouldn't fail these two girls as he had his teammates. "I can do that." Sarah too burst into tears as she joined in the emotional embrace letting all of her tears loose as well. They were both feeling so scared, sick, alone, and confused.

"Please don't cry." Koinu murmured "I hate to see my unpredictable Ame cry."

Ame felt her heart skip a bit as the boy's grip around her tightened. She too felt and unspeakable connection to this boy. He just felt so right, but she didn't think brother was the right word for this feeling. In just that moment he had made her feel safer and more protected than her longtime boyfriend Travis ever had. Her lips quivered as she thought of her home.

Koe was the first to compose herself and wipe her face clean of tears. She allowed a grin to grace her face as she poked Ame in the side.

"Cheer up emo kid." She giggled softly causing Ame to smile widely. Koinu only looked on confused…what was an emo kid?

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AUTHORS NOTE: Okies everyone friend Sarah and I have been writing this story for quite a while and a lot of its written out but this is the first time I've decided to post. It will get better as the story progresses and the Naruto cast will be included soon. Also the story will be changing and will be told from the POV of several of the characters as it goes on. If you liked please review and I'll add more later! Thanks everyone who reads!


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER**: Same as always…I don't own Naruto…just my characters Ame/Koe/Koinu. Hope you like the story! Okies about the heights in this chappie: Naruto is about four foot nine inches tall so and he's a bit shorter than Sasuke and Sakura so that's where I based my heights from, thanks for reading! Special thanks to **Joey's-mine **for reviewing and to **samarazz **for adding my story to their story alert list!

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For a moment the group of three stood in a comfortable silence enjoying the strange peace of the forest…hard to believe it was the Forest of Death. Koinu truly hated to ruin the serene moment, but they had to move on. He wanted to gain at least a few more miles before setting up camp for the night. They only had the rest of today and two more before the time limit would expire.

"Lets start walking…I still have a lot to explain to you. Would you mind grabbing those two bags?" Whilst he was talking Koinu extinguished the small fire he had made, picked up his own bag, and set out at a brisk pace. Ame and Koe glanced at each other before picking up the bags and trotting along to catch up with him. The silence continued a moment longer as Koinu took the opportunity to study the two girls. It was obvious to Koinu which demon had attacked which girl.

Koe had obviously been bitten by Calon the fox demon. The scars on her wrist and forearm were emanating an evil aura proving it to be the spot where she had absorbed Calon's chakra. Had Tsurae caught her tiny limb in such a grip her hand would have undoubtedly been severed. After all she was only about four foot three nine inches tall. The girl's mannerisms were also distinctly fox-like. She seemed constantly on edge, ready to flee at the slightest threat. Every sound that was made seemed to draw her attention. Her movements were graceful and her petite and lithe frame seemed to practically glide over the ground. Her footsteps were so light and quick that they made almost no noise; her delicate steps made no indention whatsoever in the soft grass. She would be hell to track once she was properly trained. She would make a good spy or assassin if the need arose.

Koe glanced forward and caught Koinu's stare. She gave a small smile before returning to her observations. Koinu grinned widely beneath his mask. Those eyes only served to reinforce his observation. They were definitely the eyes of a fox. They sparkled a bright green so bright in fact they only lacked a few shades being neon. Koinu would bet his eyes that they were not that color before the attack. Her eyes gleamed with curiosity and timid innocence, but they also shone with intelligence and playfulness…a combination fit for a fox.

Once Koinu was satisfied with his observation of Koe his gaze fell on Ame. Tsurae's victim was practically the polar opposite of Calon's. While everything about Koe had seemed fragile, Ame seemed to scream confidence. She stood about four foot eleven inches, tall for a girl her age; only one inch shorter than Koinu. Where as Koe was slender with little visible strength Ame's body was muscled and strong. Lightly defined abs showed on her stomach and the muscles in her legs flexed as she walked. Not that she was overly muscled, just visibly strong. She took long strides with an ever-present grin gracing her face. Her vision was trained straight ahead; she didn't even bother to take in her surroundings as she went.

_'That's a wolf for you…' _Koinu thought fondly _'Arrogant… so sure that no matter what happened they could handle it with ease.' _Koinu took a moment to observe her eyes as well. They were a swirling mass of icy silver and cerulean blue. They screamed defiance and challenge. Yes…Ame was wolf-like in everyway. She was obviously a person that would not be easily beaten. She would never surrender a fight, she needed only sheer willpower to keep her going. That was a dangerous trait.

Koinu was pulled from his musings when he noticed that a slight mist was beginning to form around the groups ankles as they entered a darker and more dangerous area of the forest. Koe seemed to notice the change to because she moved closer to Ame and Koinu for protection. It may have even been a subconscious act. It was obvious that Koe was more sensitive to the surroundings than Ame or Koe; probably her fox intuition.

"Let's start with some information on the demons that attacked you." Koinu began suddenly, startling Koe and Ame, "Calon and Tsurae are ancient demons, they are believed to be thousands of years old. No one knows exactly how they came to be partners but never in recorded history has one ever been seen without the other. Now, demons have a naturally long lifespan of course, but they aren't immortal. The two discovered a way to extend there lives by draining the life-force from humans. They originated from this world, but eventually the humans here became powerful and developed a variety to protect themselves from the attacks of demons. Humans were no longer the easy prey they had once been. Due to this, many demons retreated into remote areas of the world, like the Forest of Death for example.

As you can imagine the demons were frustrated with this shift in power and many begin to fight amongst themselves. One day Calon and Tsurae became locked in an intense battle spawned from their anger and fear of their now inescapable aging. During this battle Tsurae gained the upper hand and in his rage he was about to slay his traveling companion. In sheer terror Calon unlocked a power that even he was unaware of. He was so afraid and determined to escape the crazed wolf that his chakra took a physical form and ripped through the fabric of time and space itself creating a dimensional rift.

The awesome display of power was enough to bring Tsurae back to his senses and the two of them delved into the mysterious tear. On the other side they discovered a world of humans much weaker than the ones in their dimension. For a time the demons were content to feast on the life of these humans but soon they noticed that their abilities were slowly fading in this new dimension. If they were to remain in the new dimension they would lose there demonic power and become regular beasts. So they began to snatch their prey from the other dimensions they visited and return them to their dimension to feast on their life-force as well as their bodies."

Koinu paused in his monologue to allow the girls a moment to take in the new information. Koe looked interested albeit a bit scared. Ame just looked curious.

"Koinu…" Ame began slowly as she crossed her arms. "If they steal life force why are Bre-uh I mean Koe and I still alive?"

"When the demons steal life-force, they put their victims asleep or knock them unconscious. Depending on a variety of things, the spell affects people differently. Once asleep most people sleep deeply and are disposed of quickly, but there are a few that sleep lightly or are never asleep at all. Very rarely one of the light sleepers or simply dazed humans wakes up. For the spell to work the demons must use a lot of chakra. When you began to fight back they were probably too weak to attack you and they fled."

"Koinu…" Koe's soft voice drifted from behind Ame. She craned her neck around Ame to look at Koinu. "When we woke up…some weird things happened…"

"Weird?" Koinu raised an eyebrow in confusion "How weird?"

"Scary weird." Koe's eyes shifted to her hands which were shaking. Koinu followed her gaze and caught sight of her sharp fingernails that still had a few flecks of blood and bits of fur trapped beneath them.

Koinu smirked as he caught sight of Ame's equally sharp claws. It seemed the girls were even stronger than they looked. They were somehow able to reverse the demons' spell and absorb enough of their chakra to gain physical demonic traits.

"Yeah…" Ame pitched in her two cents. "I'll also have you know I was sixteen when were attacked and now I look like I'm twelve!"

"Well," Koinu began in an aloof tone "that's because you are about twelve." Ame bristled and bared her teeth at the boy's smart remark. Koinu only grinned in response.

"When you broke Calon and Tsurae's concentration, you made them lose control of their spell. The spell was reversed. You actually stole some of their chakra and life-force. That explains your new features and abilities as well as your reduced age." Koinu paused for a moment to laugh "You may even want to thank those two, they just added several years to your life."

"Didn't you say you survived a demon attack too Koinu?" Ame asked hoping to gain more insight to the mysterious boys past.

"Yes I did." Koinu answered darkly as he bent his head forward allowing his messy bangs to cover his eyes. "My little sister and I were both transported here by Tsurae just like you and Koe…Calon sucked all of the life out of her and broke her neck before I woke up from the sleeping state…I was so enraged when I did wake up I sucked a massive amount of chakra from Tsurae. I was eighteen when they snatched be…I was six after I drained Tsurae."

Ame cursed under hear breath and bit her tongue. Was there nothing they could ask this boy that wouldn't end in a depressing answer?

"So…" Koe trailed of for a moment anxious to change the subhect "What do we do about these new….um characteristics?"

"I wouldn't worry about that too much right now. That won't be important for sometime now. If you two plan on controlling your powers you are going to have to start with the basics. That demon chakra is the last thing you need to learn-"

"You keep saying that word." Ame interrupted Koinu with a frown "…chakra. What is it?"

"Well chakra is bodily energy collected from cells throughout the body. Chakra is the energy you use when doing a jutsu. Basically, to do ninjutsu or genjutsu, you must mix your chakra and spiritual energy. Then by doing the proper hand seals, the jutsu can be activated."

"Justsus?" Koe tilted her head confusedly.

"Hand seals?" Ame scratched the back of her head with a frown.

"Uh…" Koinu mumbled while trying to think of simple ways to explain the complex ninja abilities. "Well there are three basic types of jutsus: taijutsu, genjutsu, and ninjutsu. Taijutsu is simply hand-to-hand combat. Genjutsu uses chakra in the victim's nervous system to project illusions in the victim's mind. Ninjutsu is basically any other ninja technique outside the abilities of those that are naturally available to the body or mind that requires chakra to perform. Most ninjutsu are elemental jutsus: wind, water, lightning, fire, or earth. There are a number of other types though." Both the girls nodded vaguely understanding what he meant.

"As for hand seals…" Koinu chewed his lip beneath his mask once again trying to state what they needed to know in simple terms. "Well there are twelve hand signs: dragon, dog, rabbit, boar, sheep, tiger, horse, rat, snake, ox, monkey, and rooster. By forming the hand seals a ninja concentrates their chakra to form certain jutsus. Every jutsu is summoned using a different pattern of hand seals."

"Sounds like a lot of work." Ame commented while trying to mimic a few of the seals Koinu had just demonstrated."

"It's a lot of memorization and it's hard at first." Koinu nodded in consent. "We'll work on that training later though. I still have a lot of information to give you." Ame groaned lightly. There was so much stuff to memorize and so many names! It was almost as bad as her old mythology class…almost.

As the trio continued on the bleakness of their surrounding increased even more as they wandered ever deeper into the forest. Koe became even more edgy if possible and even Ame grew a bit apprehensive. Koinu decided to keep talking to try to ease the girl's fear.

"Now as I stated before we are in the midst of the chuunin exam. You remember what I told you about it already right?" Seeing both the girls nod Koinu continued "Ninja from all of the great countries gathered here to take the exam. Now there are several countries also known as lands. There's fire country, wind country, lightning country, rain country, earth country, and several others. Within these countries are the hidden ninja villages. For example, Konoha, where we are now, is in fire country."

"So Koinu," Ame ventured on "just how many ninja are taking this exam?"

"Well genin are put into teams of three and there were around fifty teams when the first round of the exam began…I think it was about fourteen or so when we entered the forest and there's no doubt that several have been…taken out." Koinu's voice turned dark as he finished his explanation no doubt thinking of his fallen comrades. Ame looked a bit guilty about having brought up the subject.

Before Ame could apologize or say anything for that matter Koe let out and ear piercing shriek and pointed a terrified finger to the thick tree branches above. Ame and Koinu followed Koe's finger only to find huge hairy spider-like creature staring at them from above. Ame sent a quick glance over to Koe only to find her whole body shaking in terror. Br-Koe was arachnophobic… Koinu also seemed to notice Koe's petrified state, but he was a bit preoccupied with the creature at hand. If it were on the ground the spider would easily be over fourteen feet tall and about as wide. All thoughts he had of passing by it without a fight were trampled when the arachnid began to lower itself on a web venom leaking from its fangs hitting the ground with a hiss.

Koe began to whine and whimper as she shook even harder. Ame quickly rushed over to pull the girl into her arms. Ame looked at Koinu and he could see her own fear behind her eyes. She was trying to be strong for Koe when really she was terrified.

Koinu cursed under his breath. He knew that he would have to kill the spider. However, it would take a lot of chakra to summon a jutsu able to kill it and it could draw attention to them, but as the spider dropped to the ground in front of him he knew he had to act. He shouted for Ame to take Koe and take cover. Ame hastily complied pulling her friend behind a large tree root. Koe was on the verge of hyperventilating but she was beginning to calm down so Ame took a moment to glance over the root to see what Koinu was doing. As soon as she looked her jaw dropped in amazement.

Those strange knives were already sticking out of several places in the spider's body, though they didn't seem to be doing much damage. Koinu was jumping amazingly fast and unbelievably high dodging the spider's legs and fangs. A slight rustle beside her alerted Ame of Koe's presence. She had finally managed to breathe normally and had joined Ame peeking just over the tree root.

As the girls watched Koinu began to move his hands swiftly forming several of the hand seals he had shown them earlier. Suddenly Koinu shouted.

"Fire Style: Fire Wolf Flame Bullet!" As Koinu finished a huge ball of flame burst from his mouth causing the girls to gasp in amazement. The ball of flame streaked forward taking the form of a giant wolf before engulfing the spider in flames. The spider shrieked in horrible pain as it rolled over on its back dead. Its body smoldered and twitched as the smell of burnt flesh filled the area. As the flames completely dissipated the girls could see Koinu standing still and breathing harshly. The girls rushed over to Koinu and quickly grabbed him as he swayed a bit.

"That jutsu…" He murmured softly "requires a lot of chakra." He took a deep breath before standing tall without the girls' support. "Hurry we have to leave now we need to get some distance from here and then hide out for the night." Without another word he sprinted off leaving the girls no choice but to follow.

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"WHOA!!" A blonde boy wearing bright orange exclaimed as he stumbled into a clearing. The ground was charred and in the center was a huge cooked spider. "I wonder who did this!?"

"I don't think I want to know." A girl with bubblegum pink hair answered the boy, grimacing at the dead spider. Their last companion, a raven haired boy with onyx, only frowned and observed the scene in silence.

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Koe and Ame were breathing deeply as they ran behind Koinu's swift form. They were surprised that they were able to keep up to him considering they had seen how fast he had been while dodging the spider. When Koinu finally came to a halt amidst a group of low overhanging branches the girls skidded to a stop behind him. Koinu looked around briefly giving the air a deep sniff before nodding and setting his bag down.

"We'll stay in this clearing for tonight." He stated shortly as he sat down stiffly leaning his back against a tree.

"Koinu are you ok?" Koe asked concernedly as she set her own bag on the ground.

"Yes, Koe, I'm fine just a little tired." Koinu nodded as he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. After a moment his eyes reopened and he sighed quietly. "I need to teach you two at least some basic survival methods before we continue in the morning. The forest will be getting more dangerous the longer we're here because everyone will be so desperate to find scrolls."

"Yeah," Ame frowned slightly as she took a seat near Koinu, "you said that the ninja that attacked you wanted your teams scroll earlier. What did you mean by that?"

"When we started this part of the exam each team was given a scroll. There were two different types: earth and heaven. You needed both to finish the exam. It was designed so no more than half the teams could advance." Koinu seemed to ponder for a moment before continuing on "On a side note, Scrolls are also used by ninja to summon weapons or special summon creatures or even attacks. Using chakra, blood, or both a ninja can seal their summons inside said scroll and release them when they're needed."

Koe and Ame looked at each other with disbelieving faces. Ok so they had seen some strange stuff here already, but sealing some physical object in a roll of paper? Both were sharing similar thoughts of one of those knife things Koinu kept tossing around rolled up in a sheet of paper. Seeing their strange looks Koinu laughed lightly before pulling out a scroll from the pouch on his right leg. Koinu unrolled the scroll that was filled with what at first looked like doodles. Both the girls gasped in amazement as they both realized they could read the scribbles.

"Don't be so surprised." Koinu snorted. "Calon and Tsurae are both very intelligent. It's not that shocking that the two would know how to read. You probably sucked that information out along with their chakra. There's no telling what kind of ancient secrets are locked away in those brains or yours." Ame huffed indignantly at the boy's superior tone. Koe looked between the two with a slight frown. Ame sure was pissy around this guy. Oh well, some people just pushed other peoples buttons.

Without acknowledging Ame's glare Koinu quickly performed a few hand seals before pressing his palm down on the paper. There was a slight puff of smoke and suddenly a bright flame was dancing over the paper, but not burning it. Ame and Koe both gaped like fish as Koinu used a fallen branch to lift the flame and start a camp fire. _'No way!'_ they both thought in utter shock. He had fire sealed away in that scroll! How was that possible?

"That's the Fuka Hoin," Koinu answered the girls' unasked question. "the fire sealing method." Koe seated herself on the ground and stared at the flickering fire in fascination. Ame was staring at Koinu with a similarly amazed face. Koinu just flashed that high and mighty grin again. Ame frowned. She had a feeling he was doing that to annoy her.

"So let's get down to business." Koinu began once he was sure the fire was fine. "You two will need to train as kunoichi, female ninja. There's no other way you will be able to master your new demon abilities. Unless for some reason you two don't want to be trained…" Koinu paused to glance at the girls. Neither agreed or disagreed; they simply remained silent. "Tonight I will go over a few of the most basic elements of weaponry, taijustsu, and chakra control. There's no way either of you will be able to perform ninjutsu without some real training from a professional instructor, and you definitely won't be performing genjutsu for a while; it's the hardest of the jutsu types to master."

The girls both frowned slightly. This was going to be a lot of work…they weren't even that sure they really wanted to be kunoichi…they really just wanted to go home.

"Koinu…" Koe spoke up "we're not going home are we…?" Koinu was silent for a long moment.

"I haven't found a way back in over six years. This place is my home now. I don't think I'd go back even if I did discover how. It's hard at first, but then, once your heart begins to heal, this place becomes wonderful." Koinu stared deeply into Koe's eyes, "You should at least begin to train. That way, if you still insist on searching for your dimension, you will be strong enough to do so."

Koe and Ame both nodded resignedly. Perhaps Koinu was right and things would be different in time, but right now the thought of never returning home made their hearts ache. However, they could not dispute Koinu's logic.

"Besides," Koinu smiled encouragingly, "training can be fun once you learn what you're truly capable of. You two are lucky as well. You have the advantages of a demon. You will learn quickly and have reserves of power that most ninja only dream of. You should take advantage of your gifts." The two looked at each other and nodded in agreement. They would do it…after all…what did they have to lose?"

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Authors Note: Next chapter Koinu will teach the girls a few basic pointers and the team will eventually make their way to the tower in the Forest of Death. Ok everyone quick explanation: Koe and Ame are not going to start off as super powerful. As Koinu just explained yes they will have the demonic advantages and they will learn quickly, but they aren't going to become super kunoichi overnight. The first couple of chapters are really going to be them experimenting with their powers and meeting the Naruto cast. Lots of humor abound! This will be a very long story! I hope some of you are willing to stick around and read.


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